ARDC files complaint against former Sangamon County judge

Thursday

Dec 29, 2011 at 12:01 AMDec 29, 2011 at 10:46 PM

The state commission charged with disciplining attorneys says former Sangamon County Associate Judge Robert Hall Hall falsified court documents and acted inappropriately in dismissing a traffic ticket received by the daughter of a fellow associate judge.

Chris Dettro

The state commission charged with disciplining attorneys says former Sangamon County Associate Judge Robert Hall Hall falsified court documents and acted inappropriately in dismissing a traffic ticket received by the daughter of a fellow associate judge.

The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission said Hall “intended to deceive the circuit clerk, the public and others” about the basis for his dismissal of the ticket and to conceal his actions.

James Grogan, deputy administrator and chief counsel for the ARDC, said a fact-finding hearing on the complaint probably will be held in a few months. The hearing board will make a recommendation, but the state Supreme Court has the final say on what discipline, if any, should be imposed.

Springfield attorney Stephen Kaufmann, who represents Hall, said he will file an answer to the ARDC complaint next week.

Kaufmann said Hall has cooperated with the ARDC and will continue to do so.

He said Hall already has given a sworn statement to the ARDC that “establishes that there was no intent to deceive anyone.”

“He was taking a shortcut in processing paperwork for a ticket he obviously believed was going to be dismissed by the state’s attorney’s office, as many other tickets under those circumstances had been,” Kaufmann said.

He also said it is incorrect to characterize Hall’s actions as “ticket fixing” because Hall didn’t receive, or expect to receive, anything in return.

The allegations against Hall, who retired as a judge in July 2010, involve conduct while he was a judge but pertain only to his license to practice law.

Hall, 59, left the jurisdiction of the Judicial Inquiry Board when he retired, Grogan said.

Case background

On April 30, 2010, the 16-year-old daughter of fellow Associate Judge Christopher Perrin received a ticket for disobeying a “road closed” sign in Leland Grove. She was to make a first appearance on June 7, 2010, before Hall.

Five days before the scheduled court appearance, Hal and Perrin were discussing court business when Hall complained about the unusually large traffic call on that coming Monday, according to the complaint. Perrin told Hall that his daughter’s case was among those on the docket that day and that it conflicted with a missionary trip she had planned for that week. Hall allegedly told Perrin he would continue his daughter’s case.

Hall then requested the case file from the circuit clerk’s office, the complaint says.

On June 4, Associate Judge John Mehlick agreed to take half the June 7 traffic call.

The court administrator assigned Hall the cases of defendants whose last names began with letters A through O, and Mehlick the cases of defendants whose last names began with letters P through Z.

However, according to the complaint, Hall never forwarded Perrin’s daughter’s case to Mehlick.

On June 7, the complaint says, Hall entered an order on the cover of the circuit clerk’s file dismissing the citation. He checked boxes on the file cover that indicated the citation had been dismissed on a motion from the state’s attorney’s office due to insufficient evidence.

After the court call, he placed the file with other files in which he had entered orders and returned them to the clerk’s office.

Misrepresentation alleged

The complaint says Hall knew his representations that prosecutors had moved to dismiss the case and that he had allowed the motion were false.

After the misrepresentations were discovered June 10, Hall, on the order of Chief Judge Patrick Kelley, vacated the dismissal and recused himself from Perrin’s daughter’s case.

The girl pleaded guilty July 2, 2010, to disregarding a traffic control device. She was fined $75.

On Dec. 13, 2010, Hall pleaded guilty in Sangamon County Circuit Court to indirect contempt of court, admitting that he violated rules of professional conduct when he dismissed the ticket.

Hall agreed to a fine of at least $2,000 and to perform 240 hours of community service. As part of a plea he negotiated with the state’s attorney’s appellate prosecutor’s office, Hall also promised not to ask that his law license be suspended for less than one year.

The state Judicial Inquiry Board recommended that Perrin be reprimanded for discussing his daughter’s traffic ticket with Hall. However, in September of this year, the Illinois Courts Commission, on a 5-1 vote, overturned the board’s recommendation and decided not to discipline Perrin.

Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510.

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